Introduction to business rates budgeting, budgeting monitoring and reporting England

Event summary

This course is an introduction to setting a business rates budget, business rates monitoring and the impact on the general fund. It explores the factors that complicate forecasting and explaining business rates budget variances for many local authorities and how these can be overcome. It also considers the interrelationship between business rates income, business rates baselines, settlement funding assessments and core spending power, together with the potential impact of any future reset of business rates baselines.

Date

17 September 2024
Starts: 10:00
Ends: 15:00

Location

Webinar

Standard price

£365.00 excl VAT

Network Member Price

£310.00 excl VAT

Book now

About this event

Who should attend?

The programme is aimed primarily at local authority accountants wanting to develop confidence in business rates accounting, budgeting, and budget monitoring to support local financial forecasting and reporting.

How will I benefit from attending?

The training will provide attendees with an:

Understanding of Business rate (Non-domestic Rating) budgeting and what drives the budget and out-turn general fund position.
Awareness of the interaction of statutory estimates and actuals, statutory reversals, s.31 grant funding and safety net and levies on the General fund.
An appreciation of what elements of the outturn are available at year end, and which are due to be recognised, and available, in following financial periods.
Understanding of accounting for designated areas, including freeport and investment zones and the impact of statutory overrides on recognition of surpluses.
An appreciation of the links between total business rates income and the Local Government Finance settlement, including settlement funding assessment and core spending power.

CPD hours

Five hours.

Topics

Accounting
/ Business rates
/ Financial reporting
/ Local government
/ Professional development

Speaker - Mark Catlow

Mark joined CIPFA in 2022 after working for seven years in local government. Prior to this he worked for both Ernst & Young and the Audit Commission. He is a member of CIPFA and has extensive experience of the collection fund, treasury and statutory financial reporting.